Guest Comment: Do you really care what happens to America?

Do you really care what happens to America? Most Americans do, but their attention span is so limited and their personal problems are so overwhelming that they do not pay attention to the big picture.

In the past year I have addressed the problems of America in articles titled “The Rise and Fall of the USA,” “When Did the Decline Begin,” and “The Great Divide,” just to mention a few.

There isn’t any question in my mind that our nation is in a downward spiral that may be irreversible.

We have just elected a new U.S. president, yet we don’t know who this man is, his history or his true beliefs. He is the product of one of the most corrupt political machines in America today.

I don’t know about you, but it is scary, to me, that our nation may be controlled by the Daley Machine out of Chicago. And, we don’t actually know if President-elect Obama is constitutionally qualified to be the president of the U.S.A.

The hope and change that we were promised, in fact, involves a re-run of the Clinton era group of bureaucrats that caused us great problems in the past.

The new attorney general (Eric Holder) was a party to the pardon of Mark Rich, an indicted criminal living outside of in the United States. But, does anyone care?

So much for hope and change! But, President-elect Obama will have his chance and he will have our support. The “honeymoon” will last about six months, possibly a year.

Why was it necessary to make “adjustments” to the emoluments provision under the Constitution in order for Hillary Clinton to be appointed Secretary of State, when it was quite clear that she was not qualified as stated in the Constitution?

Consider where we are as a nation. We are on the verge of bankruptcy and we have decision makers who do not have a clue what to do…so they throw more money at the failing companies thinking somehow that their bad decisions will be cured by new money to glaze over their previous mistakes. That money is yours and mine.

They talk in trillions of dollars as though these are trifling sums of money, for which we should not be concerned.

These are sums that will bankrupt our nation for generations to come and weaken our nation to the point that we will be vulnerable to foreign enemies for which a great price will be paid.

And, who will pay the price…you got it, your grandchildren and mine.

At the time of this writing the national debt was $10,566,138,799,223.53.

The estimated population of the United States is 305,529,327 so each citizen’s share of this debt is over $34,000.00. Nationally, the debt is increasing at the rate of $3.40 billion per day since Sept. 28, 2007.

Take a look at any aspect of American Society that you choose. What do you see that is detrimental to the future of America?

We have unions that are literally bankrupting employers. We have educational systems that rewrite history and attempt to politically influence our young people so that they do not learn the truth about America.

We have socialists who do not believe in free enterprise. They want to have the government control all enterprises and create a dependent society funded by large taxes and “profit skimming” from their controlled business enterprises.

Then those who are not productive will be paid on parity with those who are industrious. Redistribution of wealth, it is called.

Our legal system has eroded into disingenuous lawyers and corrupt judicial administration. Judges are now legislating from the bench.

Lawyers will seek out the most despicable criminals for defense. They encourage our litigious society to sue others creating a “lottery” mentality.

Their practice of law is predicated on the largest payouts. In many cases, criminals have more rights than victims.

Like many unions, the American Civil Liberties Union has evolved from a sorely needed advocacy organization to one that is borderline anti-American when it comes to trampling on the rights of citizens while protecting the fringe element of society and, in some cases, criminals.

Why are we concerned about who might be appointed as a future Supreme Court Justice?

If they are, truly, honest, qualified, forthright candidates who believe in the rule of law, it should not be a matter of interpretation but, rather, factual but non-partisan rulings under the Constitution as it is written.

Secularism has sunken to the lowest denominator and is used to protect everyone’s rights. Yeah, right!

We allow the lowest percentage of people to dictate what is right for the majority. Yet, politicians waste inordinate amounts of time and money on such nonsense.

Atheists demand that we abolish the word “God” on our money and in our pledge of allegiance to our country.

There are those who refuse to pledge allegiance to the flag of our country.

Yet, none of these people seem to want to leave our country nor do they want to serve are country.

They simply want to take all that they can get then complain about the structure of our nation that has been in existence for 200-plus years and has been extremely generous to them.

Whatever happened to the rights of the majority of law-abiding citizens?

We have “dumbed down” America to accommodate the fringe element.

We have friends and acquaintances that have lost their life savings due to the government agencies’ refusals to properly oversee banks and investment companies even though we were assured that the safe guards were put in place following the last great Depression.

And, there are company executives who are rewarded with multi-million compensation packages for their failures.

They have “golden parachutes”, but where are ours? They have a license to steal to satisfy their own greed.

But, lest you begin pointing the finger at others, first, look in the mirror. You and I are to blame.

We can’t talk our way out of this one. There is no point in blaming anyone else…because this happened on our “watch.”

Unless we are mentally incapacitated or ignorant, which I doubt that many of us are, we let this happen.

We elected the politicians. We allowed the businesses to take advantage of us. We allowed the malcontents and misguided people to convince our government officials to give in to their perverted desires. The tail is wagging the dog, as the saying goes.

We have been absorbed in our own “worlds.” So, we have not performed our own due diligence when it comes to the politicians that we elect and bureaucrats who hold our futures in their hands.

President John F. Kennedy’s call to the people was, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” Have each of us done that?

Remember the marches on Washington for various causes in the ’60s. Wouldn’t it be interesting if we had a march on Washington demanding the elected officials, appointed officials and bureaucrats perform for the good of the nation or demand that they resign?

This would only be effective if we were united as citizens of this great Republic.

The answer to the future of this nation is in your hands and mine.

If we try to help make the changes necessary to return to greatest…we are to be applauded.

If we are not willing to do anything except complain, and hold our hands out, then we will receive what we deserve, with no appeal.

The future of America is our responsibility. What are we going to do about our nation’s future?

Don Severe is a full time resident of Green Valley. He is a retired president and CEO of an insurance marketing company, a U.S. Air Force pilot, community volunteer, freelance writer, motivational speaker, father and grandfather. He is a native of Pekin, Ill., and has lived in the Midwest, California, Colorado and Arizona. He is an amateur historian and archaeologist. The views expressed are the writer’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of this newspaper.